# Has anyone written a book about Saddam's life on the run?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-written-a-book-about-saddams-life-on-the-run/551248>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 24, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-written-a-book-about-saddams-life-on-the-run/551248 "2010-08-24T03:59:47Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-written-a-book-about-saddams-life-on-the-run/551248/1 "2010-08-24T03:59:47Z")

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Has anyone written a book about the buildup to the war and Saddam’s life on the run during the war?

I once read he and his bodyguards would go from civilian house to house, knock out the owner with drugs and the next morning the owner would find a small pile of cash on his table.

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**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-written-a-book-about-saddams-life-on-the-run/551248/2 "2010-08-24T20:21:50Z")

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> [@Wesley\_Clark](#):
>
> I once read he and his bodyguards would go from civilian house to house, knock out the owner with drugs and the next morning the owner would find a small pile of cash on his table.

That sounds real unlikely.

Presumably the bodyguards had guns. So why go to the expense & trouble of drugging people when you could just threaten them with your guns. Or just threats in general – Saddam had been threatening people in Iraq for years.

And why leave the cash? Again, Saddam had been stealing from people in Iraq for years with no compunctions. Did he think the little pile of cash would keep people from reporting it, when the US was offering a reward of $10 million for his capture?

Also, it seems like he would be at most risk of being seen and identified when moving around from “house to house”. It would make more sense to find a good hiding place and stay there. In fact, I believe that when he was found, he had been hiding in a one-room dugout for several weeks.

The whole story doesn’t make sense.

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**Author:** ![fiddlesticks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiddlesticks/32/18129_2.png) [@fiddlesticks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fiddlesticks)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-written-a-book-about-saddams-life-on-the-run/551248/3 "2010-08-24T23:48:31Z")

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The HBO/BBC miniseries _House of Saddam_ covered his days on the run in part (along with the rest of his “career”). Don’t recall them showing them drugging the owners of houses, though.

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**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\
**Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/has-anyone-written-a-book-about-saddams-life-on-the-run/551248/4 "2010-08-24T23:58:23Z")

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Good suspense book, though.